During the walk we provided the students with historical accounts of the sensory environment in the nineteenth century and we discussed the similarities and differences and considered the significance of these comparisons. In our group reflection on the session, the students suggested that the walk had brought elements of the landscapes – like the collision of nature and urbanity and the impact of times of day on sensory experience – to the forefront of their minds and would allow them to ask new lateral questions of their source material in this module.
Lena Ferriday, Lecturer in the History of Science and the Environment, 1800 - 2000
14 March 2025
Sensory walks help develop students' skills for history degrees
Undergraduate History students completed a sensory walk, part of a fieldtrip, recording their sensory experiences at a series of historical sites in London.
The sensory activity is part of the core undergraduate module, HSSA (Historical Skills, Sources and Approaches) which all first year History students at King’s complete. Students visited a series of historical sites local to Strand Campus including Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Covent Garden, Charing Cross Station and Strand.
The module aims to provide students with the key skills they will need for historical research and writing throughout their degree and beyond. The modules are taught through the academics’ own specialisms: Lena’s module looks at Bodies and Spaces in Victorian London.
In this story
Lecturer in the History of Science and the Environment, 1800 - 2000